The Korea Herald

Farm sector faces uphill battle

Jul 12, 2011

Korea’s free trade agreement with the European Union is expected to deal a blow to the local agricultural and livestock industry for the next decade as farmers compete with an inflow of cheaper products from the world’s largest economic bloc.The Agriculture Ministry forecasts that farmers here will produce 177.6 billion won ($166.5 million) fewer goods each year for the next 15 years. Stock farmer
BOK likely to freeze interest rate for July: poll

Jul 12, 2011

Korea’s central bank is widely expected to freeze the key interest rate for July following a rate hike in June due to growing household debt and lingering external economic uncertainty, a poll showed Tuesday.Eighteen out of 19 economists predicted that the Bank of Korea will freeze the benchmark seven-day repo rate at 3.25 percent on Thursday, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financi
Games firms hoarding ammo for legal fights

IndustryJul 12, 2011

Companies strengthen legal teams to better cope with spiraling number of lawsuitsLocal gaming companies ― many of them operators of globally best-selling games ― are gearing up to better defend themselves at court in the face of mounting legal squabbles. On Monday, NCsoft, one of the nation’s top online gaming companies and creator of some of the industry’s hottest games such as Lineage and Guild
Korea clears way for ‘Angry Birds’ to take on ‘StarCraft’

TechnologyJul 12, 2011

Apple Inc. customers in South Korea who couldn’t download Rovio Mobile Ltd.’s best-selling “Angry Birds” on their iPhones will soon be able to find out why flinging vindictive fowl at green hogs can be addictive. Korea scrapped rules yesterday requiring developers to have mobile games rated by the government, said Yi Ki-jeong, a manager at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Seoul. The
Samsung retains LCD TV, 3-D TV leads in EU

TechnologyJul 12, 2011

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest maker of TVs, maintained its lead in Europe’s major TV markets during the first five months of this year, a market researcher said Tuesday.According to GfK Group, the Korean TV maker accounted for 31.9 percent of Europe’s liquid crystal display TV market in May.Its market share stood at 30.8 percent in the January-May period. Samsung’s hometown rival LG
Samsung smartphones set for space experiments

TechnologyJul 12, 2011

Astronomers are to conduct various space experiments with Samsung Electronics’ Nexus S Android smartphones carried by the space shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis docked the International Space Station on Sunday after it was launched Friday as the final flight of the U.S. shuttle program. (Yonhap News)Samsung smart phones are to perform various tasks ranging from measuring and inspecting ISS along with a
S. Korea not bidding for Brazil's bullet train project

IndustryJul 12, 2011

South Korea did not submit a bid for a multi-billion dollar high-speed rail project in Brazil, sources said Sunday, on concerns about its low profitability.A South Korean consortium did not submit a preliminary bid for the auction for building a 511-kilometer train network between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, officials said. The deadline for the bid submission closes on Tuesday.The consortium, le
Senator proposes congressional conference on pending FTA bills

Jul 12, 2011

A senior U.S. senator on Monday proposed a joint "mock conference" by the Senate and the House of Representatives to help resolve a deadlock over trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.President Barack Obama's push for the ratification of the free trade agreements (FTAs) has been complicated, as he has sought to link it with a controversial labor assistance program.Members of Congress l
CJ to pay 1.85 tln won for Korea Express

IndustryJul 11, 2011

A consortium led by CJ Group, a South Korean food and entertainment conglomerate, said Monday that it has signed a contract to purchase a controlling 37.62 percent stake in Korea Express for 1.85 trillion won (US$1.75 billion).CJ Cheiljedang Corp. and CJ GLS Inc. will each pay 922.5 billion won to take over South Korea's largest logistics firm from two subsidiaries of cash-strapped Kumho Asiana Gr
Households with divorcees top 1m

Jul 11, 2011

The number of divorced householders exceeded the 1 million mark last year, with seven out of 100 living alone after the dissolution of marriage, a government data showed Monday. The state-run Statistics Korea said Monday that the number of divorced householders was 1.26 million as of November, a 40.2 percent increase from five years. The figure has more than doubled over the past 10 years and incr
Auto exports hit new high in first half

IndustryJul 11, 2011

Exports of Korean cars reached a record high in the first half of the year, benefiting from the demand drop for Japanese vehicles along with improving consumer sentiment abroad, data said Monday.A report by the Korea Customs Service said Asia’s fourth-largest economy exported $19.1 billion worth of cars in the January-June period, bagging 30.4 percent more revenue than a year earlier. In terms of
Mahindra vows to regain Ssangyong’s brand image

TransportJul 11, 2011

Ssangyong Motor CEO Lee Yoo-il (right) poses with Mahindra and Mahindra CFO Bharat Doshi (center) and the Indian firm’s president for automotive and farm sector Pawan Goenka at a press conference in Seoul last March. (Ssangyong Motor Co.)Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., the majority shareholder of Ssangyong Motor, has continued to reiterate that it would invest in the automaker on a long-term basis devel
Ssangyong’s new Chairman W targets VIPs

TransportJul 11, 2011

The new Chairman WCompany offers unprecedented seven-year care service plan to customersSsangyong Motor Co., which launched the new Chairman W in the local market last week, is to provide consumers with a long-period guarantee service.The service, dubbed “W Promise 715 program,” offers customers free-of-charge car inspections for seven years, the automaker said in a statement on Monday.Customers
Global pension fund chiefs discuss investment in Seoul

IndustryJul 11, 2011

Big players in global pension funds have gathered in Seoul to discuss future investment plans at the International Pension Conference, which opened here on Monday. Some 40 heads of 37 public and private pension agencies worldwide have been invited to the three-day event. The asset value of participating pension funds totaled at 3,620 trillion won ($3.4 trillion).One of the participants is Takahiro
SKT, STX shares slide on Hynix bid

IndustryJul 11, 2011

With little effect expected from acquisition of Hynix Semiconductor, SK Telecom shares fell to the lowest this year on Monday.On Friday, SK Telecom and STX Group submitted letters of intent to acquire the world’s second-largest chip maker Hynix. The 15 percent stake in the chipmaker is expected to fetch around 2.5 trillion won ($2.4 billion). Hynix closed at 26,450 won, down 0.56 percent from Frid